2013 Games Review

2013 Games Review

1 Star Games

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3DS. Still frustrates me.

 

Dead Space 3. Too far removed from the horror of the original game

 

3 Star Games

Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops/Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker. Gameplay is too different from what I like from the main Metal Gear games.

 

The Sims 3 Pets. Game is good but too unstable with constant crashing

 

Solotarobo. Dull game

 

Pokémon Typing. Repetititve and too difficult unless you are an expert typist. Also responsible for loosing Pokémon White

 

Playstation All Stars Battle Royale. Fun but each character has the exact same levels in one

player mode

 

Paper Mario Sticker Star. A major disappointment for a Paper Mario game, stickers mean very frustrating gameplay.

 

X-Com Enemy Unknown. A good game but a sharp difficulty curve left me stuck about a third of the way through.

 

Hydroventure Spin Cycle. Shorter levels and rotation control means it's not a patch on the first game.

 

Pokepark Wii. Fun for Pokémon fans but very shallow and a lot of unwasted potential.

 

Simplz Zoo. Match 3 and use the resources to make a zoo. Fun but ultimately repetitive. Once you get to level 99, the missions just reset.

 

Bit Trip Runner 2

4 Star Games

Time Gentlemen Please. Very funny and traditional point and click adventure

 

Far Cry 3. Excellent first-person shooter set on dangerous tropical islands

 

The Cave. A fun and clever puzzle platformer let down by bugs and forced repetition

 

Swords and Soldiers. I love gold, and this game, a strange rise and fall in difficulty is the only

Issue

 

Skylanders Giants 3DS. Good 3D platformer, but not being able to swap characters is a

Drawback

 

The Walking Dead 400 Days. Excellent prequel to the second game but each section is just too short.

Heavy Rain. A good story but the gameplay is essentially one long quick time event. Jason.

 

McPixel. Bizarre Wario Ware style puzzle game, solutions are weird

 

DLC Quest. Fun platformer, just a bit too short.

 

Earthbound. Old school RPG with a (mostly) realistic setting. Just a little bit too tough for me

I gave this a 5 originally but am downgrading it to a 4.

 

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. Gates To Infinity

 

Game and Wario. FRONKS!!

 

5 Star Games

New Super Mario Bros 2. Emphasis on collecting coins made this a different Mario Game

 

New Super Mario Bros Wii U. The first essential Wii U game

 

Disgaea 4. The excellent gameplay is matched by the strength of the characters and their

relationships

 

De Blob 2. Surprisingly good puzzle platformer based on colour mechanics

 

The Last Story. A strong Eastern RPG. Great supporting characters, shame how dull the main pair are.

 

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask. Another excellent Layton Adventure.

 

Lego Batman 2. The highlight of this game is the free flying as Superman.

 

Unfinished Swan. A puzzle game which uses black splotches of ink to reveal a white landscape. Very different and fun

 

Lego City Undercover. Hilarious homage to GTA and great fun to play

 

Sly Raccoon Thieves in Time. A fourth Sly Raccoon game that is just as good as the previous games in the series

 

Tomb Raider 2013. A strange disconnect between story and gameplay but it doesn't mean it's not a great game with puzzle tombs and excellent set pieces throughout.

 

Luigi’s Mansion 2. Dark Moon. Mission based gameplay throughout several mansions gave this game more depth. Also made it annoying to try and get 100%

 

Fire Emblem Awakening. The marriage and children mechanic means it was more important

then ever to keep everyone alive in every battle. DLC was a let-down however.

 

Rayman Legends. Fantastic co-op game, brilliant Gamepad levels and enjoyable rhythm levels.

 

Ni No Kuni. One of the best Eastern RPG's in a long time, it really feels like a Studio Ghibli

Movie

 

Thomas Was Alone. A game where geometric shapes have deep personalities and unique

platforming abilities

 

Evoland. Start out as a handful of pixels unable to move left, finish by fighting a 3D boss, a

homage to several early generations of games.

Puppeteer. Platforming game that feels like you are playing a pantomime. Shame the swapping heads mechanic didn't amount to much.

 

Animal Crossing New Leaf: The first Animal Crossing game I enjoyed from beginning to end, paying off my debt in full. Allowing you to be mayor and in control of the town really opens the game up.

 

Brothers A Tale of Two Sons. Excellent co-op game that is also very sad

 

Top 10 Games of 2013

The Walking Dead Season 1. A game where you have to make constant, split second, unfair decisions over and over. And it's brilliant.

 

Grand Theft Auto 5. The three protagonists allow for unique storytelling and more importantly more varied and more daring missions.

 

To The Moon. The only gameplay is general exploration and a few tile puzzles. This game is a story of love and life and hopefully is the first of a series. Another excellent soundtrack

 

Lone Survivor. A truly scary survival horror game relying on minimal graphics and psychological torture. Excellent music is also a big help.

 

Bioshock Infinite. A story set in a beautiful sky city with wonderful but not quite right music,

Elizabeth a companion that doesn't need protecting and a story that is complex and engaging

 

Minecraft. Two modes. Survival, you start in a hostile world with nothing, no weapons, no

shelter, no defence and no idea what to do. Creative. You stand with everything an limitless

freedom to make whatever you can imagine.

 

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors & Virtues Last Reward. Brilliant escape the room puzzles and stories that could only ever be told in a video game.

 

Pokémon X. Pokémon is in 3D now.

 

Pikmin 3. Well worth the long, long wait. My only criticism is as usual, it's over too quickly.

 

Persona 4. After resisting playing Persona for a long time, I find a rpg with gameplay, story, music and especially characters that are so amazing, I plan to buy a new console just to replay it.